THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE   COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH   CAROLINIANA 


C378 

UK3 

18UUS 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00036721137 


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AST  ASPIBIBS6S 


DELIVERED  EETOEE  TOE 


TWO  LITERARY    SOCIETIES, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NSKTH  CAROLINA 


sssr  ®mm.&?&is  mg&a&s 


VAHHSS  H2o  SHI]1IP^IEI©9 


June§th.  1844. 


Published  by  order  of  the  Society. 


RALEIGH,  N.  C. 

Printed  by  Thomas  Loring,  at  the  Office  of  the  Independent. 

1814. 


,-ai$ 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

TWO  LITERARY   SOCIETIES 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA: 


REGIES  H3o  gmHIP^XBIS^ 
June  5th,  1811, 


Published  by  order  of  the  Society, 


RALEIGH,  N.  C. 


Printed  by  Thomas  Loring,  at  the  Office  of  the  Independent, 


CORRESPONDENCE. 

Philanthropic  Hall,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  July  21th,  184-1 
To  James  B.  Shepard,  Esq.,  Raleigh,  N.  C: 

Denr  Sir: — At  a  meeting  of  the  Philanthropic  Society,  held  on  Fri- 
day night,  the  26th  of  July,  the  following  Resolution  was  unanimously 
adopted  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  tendered  to  James  B. 
Shepard,  Esq.,  for  his  eloquent  and  highly  instructive  Address  deliver- 
ed before  the  two  Societies  at  our  last  Commencement,  and  that  he  be 
requested  to  furnish  us  a  copy  for  publication." 

In  the  discharge  of  this  our  duty,  permit  us  to  express  the  gratifica- 
tion we  experienced  during  its  delivery,  and  to  add  our  personal  solici- 
tations to  those  of  the  Society  we  represent. 

R.  C.  SHORTER,  ) 

WM.  E.  BARNETT,     \  Committee. 

RALPH  P.  BUXTON.  ) 



Raleigh,  N.  C,  30t/i  July,  1S44. 
Gentlemen  :  Your  letter  of  the  27th  ult,  was  received  yesterday, 
requesting  my  address  before  the  two  Literary  Societies  of  the  Univer- 
sity for  publication. 

The  production,  with  whatever  of  fault  or  merit  it  may  possess,  is 
at  your  disposal.  Permit  me  to  thank  you  kindly  for  the  polite  man- 
ner in  which  you  have  executed  the  wishes  of  those  you  represent 
and  accept  the  respect  of 

Your  obd*t  serv't, 

JAMES  B.  SHEPARD. 
To  R.  C.  Shorter,       f 

Wm.  E.  Barnett,   >  Committee. 
Ralph  P.  Buxton.  \ 


' 


JAMES    R   SHErAKDVS   ADDRESS 


+ 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Dialectic  and  Philanthropic  Societies: 
I  appear  before  you  in  obedience  to  a  call  which  I  could  not  disre- 
gard. Custom  has  ordained  that  at  each  annual  festival  of  learning 
kept  at  this  revered  and  sacred  place,  some  one  should  address  you. 
Many  of  the  learned,  and  virtuous  and  gifted,  have  occupied  this  place 
before  me  ;  and  how  shall  I,  more  youthful,  perhaps,  and  surely  less 
qualified  than  any  of  them — how  shall  I  fulfil  the  task,  which  your 
kind  partiality  has  assigned  me?  I  can  only  offer  you  the  results  of 
the  labor  and  experience  of  a  few  brief  years  ;  others  have  spread  be- 
fore you  the  matured  fruits  of,  perhaps,  an  entire  age.  I  have  but  en- 
tered upon  the  great  career  of  human  existence  ;  others,  who  had  al- 
most reached  the  goal,  have  told  you  of  the  mingled  pleasures  and 
dangers  of  the  race,  and  pointed  you  with  unfailing  certainty  to  many 
of  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  that  are  likely  to  beset  you. 

To  those  of  us  who  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  passed  our  ear- 
lier years  beneath  these  venerable  shades,  every  thing  now  present  teems 
with  the  recollection  of  former  faces  and  former  times.  We  remem- 
ber the  athletic  sports  ;  the  intellectual  emulation  ;  the  visions  of  anti- 
cipated happiness  ;  the  strong  and  persevering  efforts  for  advancement ; 
the  hearty  affection,  seldom  elouded  or  interrupted  for  an  hour;  and 
the  glorious  aspirations  of  a  purer  and  a  happier  period.  We  remem- 
ber also  the  kind  and  anxious  solicitude  of  our  excellent  instructers, 
and  we  now  look  back  to  them  and  upon  them  as  the  fathers  we  found 


4. 

far  away  from  the  parental  home.  But  some  of  those  who  were  with 
us  in  other  days,  are  absent  from  us  now.  The  ties  that  bound  them 
to  us  and  to  the  world  of  mankind  have  been  broken  at  the  seat  of  life  ; 
and  wife,  and  mother,  and  sister,  and  father,  have  mourned  over  the 
manly  form  and  the  open  brow  stricken  into  the  embraces  of  a  pro- 
longed but  silent  slumber.  But  they  died  with  their  armor  on,  and  we 
shall  soon  join  them.  One  by  one  we  shall  go  down  to  the  chambers 
they  occupy,  and  our  companionship  will  be  unbroken  until  the  con- 
summation of  all  things.  How  insignificant  is  life,  but  for  the  oppor- 
tunities and  incitements  it  presents  to  us  to  be  virtuous  !  But  these 
things  create  mournful  remembrances,  and  perhaps  I  have  dwelt  too 
long  upon  them. 

We  exist,  gentlemen,  at  a  most  fortunate  epoch,  and  in  a  country 
which,  as  it  has  received  the  benefit  of  the  virtuous  services  of  such  men 
as  Washington,  and  Rittenhouse,  and  Franklin,  claims  all  the  energies 
of  our  minds  and  all  the  affections  of  our  hearts.  We  are  the  trustees 
of  the  learning  and  experience  of  all  former  ages  :  and  the  lights  that 
fall  upon  us  from  the  constellations  of  Greece  and  Rome;  from  the 
sun  of  the  reformation,  and  from  the  innumerable  battle-fieldsof  Europe, 
where  mind  and  its  treasures  have  been  fought  for  and  sustained,  we 
are  bound  to  transmit  to  our  posterity.  The  obligation  to  transmit 
the  gift  is  correspondent  to  the  magnitude  of  the  gift  itself,  and  surely 
nothing  can  transcend  it  in  value  or  importance.  It  is  the  gift  of  mind — 
of  mind  rich  with  the  diamonds  of  Grecian  literature,  and  studded  with 
the  gems  of  solid  Roman  erudition — of  mind,  not  as  it  was  in  England 
centuries  ago  ;  blinded  by  superstition,  and  dishonored  by  the  mana- 
cles it  wore  ;  but  American  mind,  the  product  and  the  offspring  of  all 
that  Greece,  and  Rome,  and  England  ever  did  or  saw.  Our  country 
too,  is  eminently  favorable  to  the  expansion  and  improvement  of  its 
intellect.  It  has  no  querulous  or  troublesome  neighbors,  no  conquests 
cither  to  accomplish  or  to  dread,  no  great  wars  to  wage,  no  enormous 
system  of  permanent  corruption  to  contend  against,  and  no  great  cities 
to  corrupt  at  the  head-springs  the  streams  of  literature  and  science. 
We  know,  indeed,  that  London  has  made  her  intellect  the  admiration 
of  the  world,  and  that  French  literature  beamed  most  brightly  in  the 
darkest  hours  of  the  State  ;  but  the  one  will  live  not  alway  in  the  eye 
of  virtue,  and  the  other  was  generated  in  the  atmosphere  of  skepticism 


^ 


and  infidelity.  A  curse  is  on  all  effort  which  has  not  honor  for  its  oh. 
ject  and  pure  truth  for  its  end  ;  and  most  fortunate  shall  we  be,  should 
We  escape  (and  God  grant  we  ever  may  !)  the  excesses  to  which  the 
writings  of  Voltaire  led  generous  but  oft  misguided  France  ! 

You  will  find,  gentlemen,  after  your  entrance  upon  the  great  thea- 
tre of  the  world,  that  candor  and  honesty,  unmixed  with  egotism,  pre- 
sumption or  impertinence,  will  furnish  one  of  the  best  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  the  regard  and  consideration  of  your  fellow-men.  Let  it  be 
said  of  each  of  you,  as  of  Aristides, 

"  To  be,  and  not  to  seem,  is  this  man's  maxim, 
His  mind  reposes  on  its  proper  wisdom 
And  wants  no  other  praise." 

With  even  ordinary  acuteness  and  sagacity  you  will  be  able,  in  what- 
ever walk  of  life  you  may  tread,  to  distinguish  the  ideal  from  the  real; 
and  should  a  sincere  love  of  country  and  a  high  sense  of  what  is  hon- 
orable be  uppermost  in  your  bosoms,  you  will  intuitively  seek  after 
the  substance  and  discard  the  form.  After  you  shall  have  passed  from 
these  classic  grounds,  the  world  (as  you  have  been  told  a  thousand 
times)  will  be  all  new  to  you.  Aye,  and  you  will/eeZ  the  force  of  this 
observation.  New  associations  will  be  formed  ;  new  pursuits  will  be 
taken  up ;  new  hopes  will  be  created ;  and  new  objects  of  ambition 
will  arise,  to  captivate,  and  dazzle,  and  enchant  you.  The  school  boy 
will  be  transformed  into  the  man — the  mimic  soldier  will  be  merged  in 
the  hardened  lineaments  of  the  sturdy  warrior,  and  the  charges  and  re- 
treats of  the  present  will  give  place  to  the  vigorous  and  continuous  ad- 
vances of  such  of  you  as  shall  have  nerve,  and  boldnes,  and  the  spirit 
of  indomitable  perseverance.  Burning  with  ardor,  and  with  weapons 
adjusted  and  polished  in  this  intellectual  armory,  some  of  you  are  des- 
tined to  bear  a  commanding  sway  over  departments  of  the  empire  of 
mind,  and  all  of  you,  I  trust,  are  so  constituted  as  to  rule  or  bear  rule 
with  equal  equanimity  and  patience.  Here  you  will  see  the  success- 
ful lawyer,  bending  his  whole  mind  to  his  laudable  and  excellent  pro- 
fession, and  winning  reputation  and  affluence  by  a  compass  of  exertion 
which  takes  hold  of  trifles  as  well  as  of  great  and  lasting  principles  ; 
This  is  the  real:  and  in  the  same  path,  but  far  in  his  rear,  you  will  be- 
hold the  miserable  shadoic-,  m  the  shape  of  a  smirking  charlatan  or  an 


ft 

irresolute  student — the  first  profiting  by  and  exulting  secretly  in  the 
vices  and  miseries  of  mankind,  and  the  latter  alternately  thinking  him- 
self and  the  science  alike  profitless  and  dull.  And  there,  in  another 
path,  glowing  in  the  sunshine  of  fame,  you  will  behold  the  patriot  states- 
man, ascending  with  untiring  step  to  a  permanent  place  in  the  hearts 
of  men  ;  rising  yet  higher  as  the  clouds  of  envy  and  malace  deal  their 
thunders  at  his  head,  and  looking  not  so  much  for  the  plaudits  of  the 
present  as  of  all  posterity;  and  in  the  same  path,  but  infinitely  below 
him,  you  will  also  see  the  mere  politician,  rending  the  air  with  the 
trifles  and  humbugs  of  the  moment,  and  vainly  mistaking  notoriety  for 
fame.  And  here  again,  away  down  in  the  bye-roads  of  a  toilsome  and 
troubled  life,  his  face  radiant  with  benevolence,  you  will  meet  the  en- 
lightened and  conscientious  physician,  lighting  up  both  the  palace  and 
the  hovel  with  the  achievements  of  his  noble  but  unpretending  science 
and  snatching  the  shaft  and  the  chalice  from  the  hand  of  doom ;  and  then 
again,  amid  the  ignorant  and  unwary,  and  too  often  where  the  intelligent 
reside,  you  will  behold  also  the  pompous  and  undiplomcred  quack, 
talking  over  hard  names,  and  even  causing  the  dying  to  wonder  at  the 
learning  he  displays.  In  all  the  walks  of  life  learn  to  distinguish  the 
unsubstantial  from  the  real ;  the  glitter  of  the  false  gilding  from  the 
mild  lustre  of  the  enduring  gold  ;  and  be  it  your  part,  gentlemen,  to  be 
rather  than  to  seem. 

Lycurgus,  wre  are  told,  resolved  the  whole  business  of  legislation  in- 
to the  bringing  up  of  youth  ;  and  regarding  it  as  the  most  glorious 
work  of  the  law-giver  he  began  early  and  persevered  until  he  made 
Sparta  the  bulwark  of  Greece  and  the  wonder  of  nations.  By  athletic 
sports  and  exercises,  by  rigid  discipline]  and  constant  effort,  he  strung 
the  nerves  and  purified  the  blood,  and  rendered  the  body  so  vigorous  that 
no  labor  of  the  mind  could  materially  impair  it.  Fhysical  exercise 
and  development  prevail  also  among  the  Germans,  and  whether  educa- 
tion be  the  work  of  the  law-giver  or  under  the  guardianship  of  the  pa- 
rent, all  will  bear  witness  to  the  importance  and  excellence  of  such  a 
system.  From  a  strange  and  perhaps  inexplicable  principle  of  the  hu- 
man constitution,  the  mind  always  sympathizes  with  the  body,  and  it 
is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  greatest  warriors  and  statesmen  possess- 
ed the  expanded  chest,  giving  full  play  to  the  organ  of  vitality  itself, 
and  were  endowed,  more  by  habit  than  by  nature,  with  extraordinary 


capabilities  oi  endurance.  Washington,  and  Caesar,  and  Franklin,  and 
Peter  the  Great,  arc  examples  to  the  point ;  nor  do  the  mighty  labors 
of  Pope,  who  was  thin  and  feeble,  detract  from  the  force  of  the  argu- 
ment in  an  intellectual  sense.  Excitement  was  his  life,  and  the  strings 
of  his  grand  and  lofty  harp  were  broken  at  an  age  when  those  of  other 
men  had  not  known  the  touches  of  dissolution  or  decay.  But  far  be  it 
from  me,  gentlemen,  to  argue  an  essential  dependence  of  the  mind  up- 
on the  body.  We  know  that  the  mind  is  impalpable  and  immortal  ; 
that  it  sees  and  yet  is  seen  only  in  what  it  creates  and  fashions  for  the 
physical  and  mental  eye,  that  it  is  as  superior  to  matter  as  celestial 
bodies  are  to  bodies  terrestrial;  and  that  it  occupies  all  time,  pervades  all 
space,  and  springs  forward  and  gazes  in  imagination  upon  things  yet 
dark  and  mysteries  still  to  be  revealed.  My  only  object  is  to  caution 
you  against  those  excesses  which  debilitate  the  body  and  thus  enfeeble 
and  deprave  the  intellect,  and  to  encourage  whatsoever  may  tend  to 
strengthen  and  expand  the  mental  powers. 

Here  you  receive  nothing  more  than  the  rudiments  of  education. 
The  study  of  the  languages  and  of  Mathematics  are  intended  mainly 
for  the  discipline  of  the  intellect ;  and  few  ol  you  make  wide  excur- 
sions into  the  field  of  general  literature  with  any  great  fruits  or  success. 
Here  you  learn  the  words  and  the  rules  more  to  strengthen  the  mem- 
ory and  to  sharpen  the  understanding,  than  to  reduce  them  to  active 
use  in  the  department  of  practical  existence.  But  if,  in  addition  to  the 
acquirement  of  a  strong  and  ready  memory  and  a  clear  and  acute  un- 
derstanding, you  also  retain  the  striking  and  more  beautiful  portions  of 
the  classics,  together  with  much  of  the  theory  of  mathematics,  it  is  all 
the  better  for  you  ;  and  the  most  critical  and  severe  judge  of  mental 
discipline  will  not  hereafter  censure  you  for  possessing  either.  But 
remember  that  your  success  in  life  is  mainly  dependent  upon  the  pre- 
paration you  shall  make  while  here,  Genius  is,  perhaps,  nothing  more 
than  the  power  to  make  efforts  ;  and  the  nature  of  the  genius  is  of 
course  in  exact  proportion  to  the  effort  made.  But  this  gift  is  often 
understood  to  be  the  power  of  succeeding  without  previous  exertion, 
and  we  are  often  told  of  what  Byron,  and  Napoleon  and  Charles  XII 
did  almost  apparently  by  intuition.  No  idea  can  be  more  unsound. 
Many  doubtless  possess  minds  which  adapt  themselves  to  things  and 
objects,   and  which  govern   and  control  where  other  minds  would  be 


lost  in  dullness  or  palsied  with  astonishment;  but  depend  upon  it, 
as  no  effect  exists  without  a  cause,  so  no  great  achievement,  not  strict- 
ly Providential,  was  ever  accomplished  without  previous  mental  dis- 
cipline and  exertion. 

Many  of  you  may  doubtless  learn  here,  by  a  careful  analysis  of 
your  own  powers,  and  by  close  attention  to  the  movements  and  events 
of  the  world  around  you,  the  respective  professions  and  vocations 
which  are  best  calculated  to  put  your  faculties  to  successful  effort,  and 
to  enable  you  to  advance  yourselves  while  at  the  same  time  you  confer 
benefits  and  honor  upon  your  country.  Asa  general  rule,  let  those 
for  instance,  who  are  naturally  disputatious  and  gifted  with  critical  a- 
enmen,  and  who  possess  a  delicate  and  proper  sense  of  what  is  just, 
turn  their  attention  to  the  law.  Let  the  studious  and  comparatively 
unassuming,  if  they  be  affable,  devote  themselves  to  medicine ;  and 
let  those  who  may  think  more  of  agriculture  than  of  all  the  profes- 
sions combined,  be  planters.  And  when  the  mind  is  once  fixed  upon 
the  profession,  let  it  be  followed  with  a  constant  and  unfaltering  step. 
No  science  is  more  excellent,  and  certainly  none  exerts  a  more  power- 
ful influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the  State  than  that  of  the  law.  But 
to  be  cultivated  successfully,  every  other  profession  or  vocation  must 
be  almost  entirely  cast  aside.  To  say  nothing  of  the  wide  field  of 
general  elementary  principles  which  is  spread  out  before  the  student, 
nor  of  the  decisions  of  the  Courts  at  home,  new  cases  and  new  prin- 
ciples are  perpetually  arising  in  other  countries,  which  it  is  often  neces- 
sary for  him  to  master  and  treasure  up  for  future  reference.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  thousand  and  one  forms  of  the  Courts  arc  to  be  stored 
away  in  the  memory;  manual  labor  of  a  perplexing  and  difficult  cha- 
racter has  to  be  performed  ;  and  the  mind  must  be  ready,  both  in  ele- 
mentary principles  and  common  forms,  which  involve  principles,  to 
put  forth  at  all  times  or  at  any  time,  without  perhaps  an  opportunity 
for  the  reflection  of  an  hour,  whatever  it  can  in  behalf  of  its  client. — 
Should  your  dispositions  incline  you  to  the  study  of  the  law,  be  law- 
yers indeed,  and  not  charlatans,  pretenders,  or  pettifoggers.  Keep 
Marshall  and  Wirt,  in  your  eye,  and  if  you  cannot  attain  to  the  learn- 
ing they  possessed,  get  all  you  can,  reduce  it  to  practice,  and  you  shall 
at  least  have  praise  for  the  laudable  and  indefatigable  efforts  you  may 
make.     And  who  shall  desire  a  higher  reputation  than   that  which  is 


won  by  the  successful  lawyer  ?  Not  twelve  months  ago  the  bolt  of 
death  fell  upon  Hugh  S.  Legare.  His  career,  his  great  legal  learning, 
the  distinguished  post  he  held,  the  high  national  festival  that  saw  him 
die — all  these  things  are  fresh  upon  your  memories.  Gaston  has 
been  also  gathered  to  the  companionship  of  that  patriot  father,  who 
baptized  him  in  infancy  in  Revolutionary  blood  ;  and  tell  me,  who  is 
there  before  me,  who  is  there  in  all  this  broad  green  land,  that  would 
not  die  happy  with  laurels  like  those  that  bloom  on  the  brows  of  Gas- 
ton and  Legare  ?  From  the  bottom  of  my  haart  I  respect  and  honor 
the  able  and  conscientious  lawyer.  Such  a  man,  governed  by  the  ad- 
monitions of  conscience  and  replete  with  kind  feelings,  sees  more  of 
men — knows  more  of  their  frailties  and  wickedness — restores  peace 
and  concord  to  more  communities — and  comes  forth  purer  and  more 
thoroughly  tried  by  the  iires  of  temptation  than  any  other  man  who 
labors  in  our  midst.  Then  happy,  and  tranquil,  and  serene  be  the 
slumbers  of  Gaston  and  Legare  ! 

"  The  first  of  chiefs  is  he  who  lam  els  gains 
And  buys  them  not  with  life  ;  the  next  is  he 
Who  dies,  but  dies  in  Virtue's  arms.''' 

Nor  should  we  overlook  the  important  profession  of  the  planter.  The 
idea  which  was  so  prevalent  many  years  since,  that  agriculture  is  not 
only  beneath  the  attention  of  the  scholar,  but  that  it  does  not  need  the 
assistance  of  his  learning',  has  been  gradually  dissipated ;  and  now, 
thanks  to  a  better  public  sentiment,  and  our  mild  but  matchless  laws, 
we  see  men  of  the  highest  grade  of  intellect  turning  their  attention  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  Let  this  be  encouraged.  Education  is  as 
necessary  to  till  the  earth  successfully  as  it  is  in  any  other  calling  in 
human  life,  and  the  fact  that  a  few  succeed  without  education  is  no  ar- 
gument, for  the  most  trilling  instruments  they  use  in  their  farming  op- 
erations are  the  inventions  of  the  educated  mind.  All  the  wealth  of 
the  world  flows  from  and  depends  upon  the  soil  of  the  world.  And 
what  labor  can  be  more  honorable  than  that  which  reduces  the  earth 
to  subjection,  which  fells  the  wilderness  and  lets  in  the  sun  upon  new 
abodes  of  human  happiness,  and  which  gives  blood  to  all  the  veins  and 
arteries  of  the  State  ?  There  is  much  more  than  some  think  in  the 
vulgar  saying  "  The  best  Bank  is  a  bank  of  earth,  and  the  best  share 
a  ploughshare?' 

2* 


10. 

It  lias  been  truly  said  that  in  the  decline  of  a  State,  unfavorable  symp- 
toms first  appear  among  the  young.  "  Athens,"  continues  the  same 
writer,  "  was  no  exception  to  this  law  of  national  existence,  the.  youth 
of  that  opulent  and  giddy  metropolis,  disdaining  the  rigors  of  ancient 
discipline,  devoted  themselves  to  the  arts  of  ostentation  and  display, 
affected  an  effeminate  dandyism,  and  revelled  in  debauchery  and  crime. 
The  Athenian  exquisite  glittering  with  rings  to  his  fingers-ends,  strutted 
over  the  public  walks,  in  a  flowing  palladium  of  purple  or  dashed  down 
to  the  Peiraeus,  in  his  gilded  chariot,  the  admiration  and  the  envy  of 
less  fortunate  beaux."  Plutarch  tells  us  that  Lycurgus  wound  up  the 
strings  of  Sparta,  which  he  found  relaxed  with  luxury,  to  a  stronger 
tone;  but  no  one  was  found  able  to  wind  up  those  of  Athens  when 
corruption,  and  ostentation  and  vain  display,  struck  at  the  foundations 
of  her  youth,  How  important  is  it  then,  that  the  morals  of  our  young 
men  should  be  preserved  ;  and  how  should  we  honor  the  upright  and 
competent  instructors  of  youth  !  The  destinies  of  the  Republic  are  al- 
most solely  in  their  hands.  Its  fortunes  they  may  make  or  mar.  If 
they  perform  all  their  duties  as  they  should  perform  them ;  if  they 
guide  the  erring  into  the  right  path,  correct  the  disobedient,  and  suc- 
cessfully admonish  the  unwary  and  prepare  all  entrusted  to  their  care 
for  the  moral  and  intellectual  conflicts  of  life,  the  present  generation 
may  indeed  be  succeeded  by  a  purer  and  a  better  one ;  but  if  they  fal- 
ter or  fail  in  any  of  these  things,  the  result  may  be  the  destruction  of 
the  public   liberty  itself. 

This,  above  all  other  ages,  is  the  age  of  cheap  and  too  often  unsub- 
stantial Literature.  The  Press — the  great  heart  of  the  mental  pulse- 
sends  forth  daily  its  mingled  streams  of  good  and  evil  on  the  world. 
Here  we  have  the  works  of  Dickens;  there  the  beautiful,  and  captivat- 
ing, and  sometimes  unfortunately  the  deathful  imagery  of  Bulwer  breaks 
upon  the  mental  vision ;  James  and  Ainsworth,  and  Suez  usurp  the 
place  of  Scott;  and  Addison  is  thrown  aside  for  the  more  exciting  but 
less  solid  pages  of  Allison  and  Brougham.  In  the  great  rage  for  uni- 
versal book-making,  the  young  and  inexperienced  cannot  be  too  cau- 
tious as  to  what  they  read  or  what  they  reject.  As  a  novelist  Scott 
stands  confessedly  at  the  head  of  all ;  and  if  indeed  Milton  occupy  the 
throne  of  English  genius,  with  Shakespeare  and  Byron  on  either  hand, 
Scott  sits  in  solitary  and  unapproachable  glory  on  the  intellectual  throne 


u. 

of  .Scotland.  But  why  scat  him  there?  The  world  is  not  too  wide 
for  the  theatre  of  his  fame  ;  for  he  has  written  of  all  classes,  of  all 
climes,  and  of  all  ages,  as  none  other  could  have  written  :  and  the  star 
of  his  renown  is  still  brighter  than  it  was  when  it  dawned  upon  the 
minds  of  men.  And  if  any  of  us  have  wandered  from  the  pure  foun- 
tains, let  us  hasten  to  return  to  them  again.  The  Greek  and  Roman 
writers  will  always  exert  a  most  beneficial  influence  upon  the  mind. 
They  correct  the  taste,  infuse  into  the  heart  the  elements  of  a  lofty  and 
heroic  virtue,  bend  the  mind  into  the  severer  channels  of  criticism  and 
acute  judgement,  and  strengthen  us  with  strong  principles  against  the 
calamities  of  life;  but  there  are  other  works  in  the  mother  tongue — 
those  of  Addison,  and  Milton,  and  Hume,  which  are  worthy  ever  to 
be  with  us  in  our  studies. 

We  are  often  reproached  with  the  remark  that  as  a  nation  we  have 
no  permanent  literature  of  our  own,  and  are  dependent  upon  other 
countries,  and  especially  upon  England,  for  those  masterly  intellectual 
achievements  that  fix  the  attention  and  command  the  respect  and  ad- 
miration of  mankind,  There  may  be  some  truth  in  the  remark.  Our 
country  is  yet  in  its  infancy.  Twice  in  the  short  space  of  sixty  years 
have  we  been  compelled  to  beat  back  from  our  shores  the  hostile  forces 
of  the  very  power  on  whom  we  are  told  we  depend  for  intellectual  food  ; 
cities  had  to  be  built;  forests  cleared  away;  and  the  veins  of  a  young 
but  mighty  empire  surcharged  with  the  circulating  streams  of  wealth  ; 
and  it  is  indeed  wonderful  that  we  have  effected  what  we  have  in  the 
fields  of  Literature.  They  ask  for  our  Poets.  Let  us  point  to  them. 
There  are  Bryant,  and  Percival,  and  a  host  of  others — men  who  have 
written,  not  for  pay  but  for  glory,  and  whose  works  will  exist  as  long 
as  many  of  those  of  the  boasted  ornaments  of  England.  But  the  spirit 
of  Poetry  is  every  where  in  our  Country.  It  is  here  a  spirit  of  action 
and  of  eloquence.  It  flashes  in  the  tires  of  the  thundering  locomotive  ; 
it  lives  with  the  steam-vessel  upon  the  angry  billows ;  it  mounts  up 
with  the  balloon  towards  the  throne  of  the  sun ;  and  it  borrows 
a  language  from  the  storms,  and  speaks  from  the  hearts  of  our 
people  in  response  to  the  stern  strong  eloquence  of  all  our  orators. 
Why,  our  very  eloquence  is  poetry  !  What  was  Patrick  Henry — with 
his  strong  and  fiery  Saxon  sentences,  Ins  love  of  justice  and  truth,  and 
his  disdain  of  wrong  and  falsehood,  his   indignant  denunciations  of  a 


12. 

corrupt  Ministry  and  his  matchless  vindications  of  his  struggling  coun- 
try— what  was  he  but  the  impersonation  of  Poetry  itself  ?  True,  he 
was  no  rhymer,  but  he  spoke  the  thoughts  that  poetry  is  made  of.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  love  of  the  beautiful  is  ever  struggling  for  ex- 
pression. Sculpture  and  painting  came  first;  then  music,  and  after 
music,  poetry  ;  and  after  all  there  sprang  forth  the  genius  of  eloquence 
itself.  It  is  the  sister  of  painting  and  of  poesy.  The  ancient  nations 
honored  as  we  do  their  patriots  and  heroes,  and  they  naturally  looked 
about  them  for  something  into  which  they  might  strike  deep  their  sen- 
timents of  affection  and  of  gratitude,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  to 
their  posterity  a  recollection  of  the  names  and  prowess,  and  wisdom  of 
their  great  men.  Their  eyes  fell  upon  the  almost  imperishable  marble. 
Beneath  the  touch  of  genius  it  leaped  forth  from  the  rugged  quarry; 
the  plastic  hand  of  the  sculptor  was  laid  upon  it,  and  the  beautiful  sen- 
timent and  the  heroic  lineament  glowed  and  started  into  life.  The 
statues  of  deities  and  of  men  took  their  places  in  the  temples  and  amid  the 
elegant  simplicity  of  the  public  halls,  and  looked  down  upon  the  peo- 
ple and  far  away  into  the  future  upon  the  anticipated  splendors  of  the 
State.  Born  when  the  world  was  made  and  when  the  stars  of  the 
morning  sung  their  earliest  hymn  in  the  high  temple  of  universal  space, 
Music  travelled  down  upon  the  wing  of  age6,  and  received  a  new  birth 
and  a  deep  baptism  in  the  tires  and  blood  through  which  Greece  emer- 
ged into  the  atmosphere  of  beauty,  and  power,  and  renown.  The 
chief  elements  of  its  existence  (for  it  has  a  charm  for  all  hearts) 
were  the  clashing  of  shields,  the  notes  of  victory  or  the  lamentations  of 
defeat — the  plaint  of  the  lover,  or  the  remembrances  of  a  happier  and 
an  earlier  time.  Then  came  Poetry  and  Eloquence.  They  stirred  and 
vrvified  the  hearts,  and  formed  the  characters  of  men.  Empires  fell  or 
were  built  up  by  them.  The  successful  hero  knew  that  his  deeds 
would  be  sung  to  all  the  people,  and  that  poetry  would  elevate  him  to 
his  appropriate  position  on  the  hills  of  fame,  and  the  orator  in  turn 
spoke  of  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  his  country  until  the  cry  was, 
"  Let  us  march  against  Philip  "  and  the  national  voice  rang  out  as  the 
voice  of  one  man,  the  mingled  praises  of  eloquence  and  heroism. 

In  this  country,  gentlemen,  popular  eloquence  is  the  most  powerful 
of  all  arts.  Here  the  people  make  and  repeal  their  own  laws  at  their 
own  pleasure.     Here  men  are  moved    by  appeals  to  their  passions,  as 


well  as  by  arguments  addressed  to  their  reason  and  understanding. 
Every  great  public  question,  whether  of  war  or  of  peace,  whether  of 
internal  or  of  external  policy,  is  fully  discussed  in  their  presence,  and 
their  verdict,  when  it  proceeds  from  minds  fully  enlightened  upon  all 
the  points,  is  seldom  variant  from  the  dictates  of  justice  and  of  truth. 
How  important,  then,  is  it  that  the  orator  should  have  truth  and  jus- 
tice on  his  side  !  And  how  culpable  is  he  who  uses  this  great  art  for 
the  advancement  of  strictly  selfish  or  sinister  designs  !  At  this  very 
point,  is  the  greatest  opening  for  the  admission  of  the  temptations  of 
unregulated  ambition.  Guard  it  well,  I  beseech  you,  and  let  no  thought, 
no  desire,  no  aspiration,  come  between  you  and  the  interest  and  glory 
of  our  beloved  country.  You  will  soon  be  called  upon  by  that  coun- 
try to  discharge  the  high  duties  of  patriot  citizens.  Some  of  you  are 
orators;  all  of  you  possess  reason,  sentiment,  and  imagination.  The 
age;  you  live  in  is  fraught  with  extraordinary  principles  and  events,  the 
country  to  which  you  owe  your  highest  loyalty  and  best  service,  has 
no  rival  beneath  the  sun.  Be  it  your  high  task  to  take  part  in  the 
movements  of  the  age,  and  to  contribute  to  the  augmentation  of  the 
national  power  and  renown.  Should  fortune  and  a  well  regulated  judge- 
ment call  you  into  the  political  arena,  you  will  be  greeted  at  your  first 
step  by  a  confiding  people,  and  few  sounds  but  those  occasioned  by 
the  croakings  of  the  demagogue  will  permanently  excite  your  indigna- 
tion and  resentment.  Him,  I  know,  you  will  cordially  despise.  You 
will  behold  him  at  every  turn  of  your  political  career,  stunning  the 
popular  ear,  with  his  coarse  harangues,  raising  false  issues  to  suit  his 
own  selfish  purposes,  and  resorting  to  the  use  of  slander  and  defama- 
tion in  order  that  he  may  foist  himself  into  the  public  confidence  upon 
the  ruins  of  patriotic  and  amiable  men.  Whenever  you  meet  him,  ex- 
pose him ;  and  if  you  fail  in  that,  shun  him  as  you  would  the  pesti- 
lence. The  strong-winged  eagle  springs  upward  at  once  to  his  home 
amid  the  clouds,  or  if  he  fails,  he  keeps  his  eye  still  fixed  upon  the 
sun  ;  but  the  toad  jumps  and  hobbles  to  his  den,  and  the  lizard  winds 
up  the  steeple  by  degrees,  ever  on  the  one  dark  side,  and  with  no  eye 
for  the  bright  sunshine  that  plays  upon  the  other.  Here,  gentlemen, 
you  must  also  learn  to  separate  the  unsubstantial  from  the  real. 

De  Tocqueville  has  said  "The  speli  of  royalty  has  been  broken  but 
it  has  not  been  succeeded  by  the  majesty  of  the  laws  :  The  people  have 


n. 

learned  to  despise  all  authority."  The  spell  of  royalty  has  indeed  been 
broken.  In  all  lands  over  which  the  light  of  the  Press  has  obtained  a 
permanent  ascendancy,  right  and  reason  havre  made  themselves  felt  in 
their  efforts,  and  in  their  rich  and  imperishable  fruits.  France,  Italy, 
Greece,  Ireland  and  England  have,  duri/ig  the  last  half  century,  ex- 
hibited brilliant  indications  of  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  self-government 
which  no  power  of  royalty  will  be  able  at  any  period  to  stifle  or  ex- 
tinguish. On  the  American  continent,  Republic  after  Republic  has 
sprung  into  existence  upon  the  ruins  of  a  savage  race  and  amid  the  in- 
terminable shades  of  ancient  forests  ;  and  over  all  of  them  now  floats 
an  ensign  which  is  at  once  the  type  of  their  Federal  union  and  a  proud 
memorial  of  the  toils  and  sacrifices  through  which  they  advanced  to 
their  high  position  in  the  family  of  nations.  And  here  too— whatever 
may  be  said  of  other  countries — all  bow  to  the  requirements  and  to 
the  majesty  of  the  laws.  What  though  at  times  we  are  plagued  with 
faction  and  riot,  and  threats  of  disturbance  and  disorder — these  things 
serve  only  to  test  the  firmness  of  the  government,  to  demonstrate  its 
power  to  protect  property,  life  and  reputation,  and  to  inspire  those 
who  made  and  who  contribute  to  uphold  it  with  an  abiding  confidence 
in  its  complete  adaptation  to  the  wishes  and  desires  of  mankind.  Nor 
have  "die  people  learned  to  despise  all  authority."  On  the  contrary, 
knowing  no  authority  but  that  which  is  constitutional,  and  which  acts 
upon  themselves  through  regularly  constituted  organs  ;  but  still  hold- 
ing to  the  fundamental  principle,  which  leads  off  in  the  career  of  revo- 
lution whenever  existing  forms  become  too  intolerable  to  be  borne, 
they  exhibit  to  the  eyes  of  mankind  the  most  sublime  spectacle  of 
mingled  power  and  obedience. 

When  once  fairly  out  gentlemen  upon  the  great  theatre  of  the  world, 
you  will  find  no  opportunity,  if  indeed  you  intend  to  press  forward, 
and  to  acquit  yourselves  like  men,  for  the  indulgence  of  indolence 
or  for  relaxation  or  retreat.  If  you  pause,  others  perhaps  less 
gifted,  but  more  industrious,  and  persevering,  will  step  in  before 
you,  and  snatch  the  laurels  you  had  fondly  hoped  to  see  placed  upon 
your  own  brow.  If  you  hesitate — if  indecision  and  a  lack  of  firmness 
should  characterize  you  when  you  know  you  are  right — every  mo- 
ment of  such  hesitation  may  be  pregnant  with  dangerous  and  lament- 
able consequences.     If  you  exhibit  extreme  diffidence   where   modest 


L5. 

assurance  and  a  sense  of  absolute  personal  independence  would  ap- 
pear best,  you  will  forfeit  many  n  golden  opportunity  for  acquiring 
bonoruble  distinction,  and  prove  yourselves  unjust  as  well  to  your- 
selves as  to  your  friends.  For  after  all  decision  of  character,  and  a 
knowledge  of  one's  own  powers,  is  the  great  lever  which  raises  men 
to  consideration  and  to  fortune. 

But  there  are  other  struggles  which  go  on  perpetually  besides  those 
which  are  seen  between  intellect  and  intellect,  and  man  and  man. 
There  is  a  silent  and  an  unseen  struggle  in  tbe  heart ;  a  struggle  which 
commenced  in  Eden,  and  tbe  consequences  of  winch  have  fallen  in 
mingled  streams  of  happiness  and  woe  upon  all  tbe  progeny  of  Adam. 
It  is  the  struggle  between  the  angel  of  good  and  the  demon  of  evil. 
Side  by  side — -like  "  the  shadowy  steeds  of  Night  and  Morning  " — with 
wing  touching  wine  and  effort  after  effort  alternately  baffling  or  being 
baffled — they  follow  us,  and  strive  in  us  for  the  mastery.  To  which 
ought  we  to  yield  obedience?  Certainly  that  one  which  ensures  us 
most  happiness  here,  and  gives  to  us  the  best  pledge  of  enduring  hap- 
piness hereafter,  And  what  good  thing  can  evil  do  for  us  ?  What 
vice  ever  brought  joy  to  the  heart,  or  made  it  better;  or  gave  it  a  sub- 
stantial promise  as  to  the  things  to  come  ?  On  the  other  hand,  virtue 
is  but  the  impersonation  of  God  himself.  Like  him,  it  is  indestructi- 
ble; like  him,  it  is  long  suffering,  and  kind,  and  full  of  charity  ;  and 
like  him,  it  will  triumph  over  all  impediments  and  over  all  adversaries. 
It  is  his  voice  speaking  to  the  hearts  of  men,  and  rebuking  the  demon 
of  evil.  Throw  it  forth  amid  the  passions  and  disorders  of  society — 
speed  it  to  the  conflict  when  the  waves  of  the  great  sea  of  vice  and  infi- 
delity are  raging  at  their  height,  and  like  the  voice  which  spoke  to  the 
waters  and  produced  a  calm,  it  will  shed  quietude  and  repose  over  all, 
and  bring  forth  beautiful  and  deathless  trophies  from  the  ruins  of  pas- 
sion and  of  crime.  In  other  words  it  will  bring  good  out  of  evil ;  not 
itself  alone,  but  deeds  and  consequences  which  shall  make  the  world 
glad,  and  strengthen  and  embolden  others  to  the  conflict. 

Homer  says  they  may  think  themselves  most  happy  to  whom  for- 
tune gives  an  equal  share  of  good  and  evil. 

"  Two  urns  by  Jove's  high  throne  have  ever  stood 
The  source  of  evil  one,  and  one  of  good. 
From  thence  the  cup  of  mortal  man  lie  tills. 


If). 

Blessings  to  these,  to  those  distributes  ills; 
To  most  he  mingles  both  :  the  wretch  decreed 
To  taste  the  bad  unmixed,  is  cursed  indeed: 
The  happiest  taste  not  happiness  sincere 
But  find  the  cordial  draught  is  dashed  with  care." 

Our  existence  is  progressive — and  how  can  one  progress  in  good  when 
there  is  no  evil  to  overcome  ?  This,  then,  is  the  conflict  which  good 
and  evil  wage,  and  out  of  all — out  of  the  sorrows,  the  successes,  the 
joys  and  the  calamities  of  life,  comes  virtue  first,  and  then  happiness. 

In  the  great  conflict  between  the  powers  of  good  and  evil,  you  will 
find  all  the  bad  passions  arrayed  on  the  one  side,  and  the  simple  but 
efficacious  truth  of  the  Bible  on  the  other.  On  the  one  hand  you  will 
behold  selfishness,  and  avarice,  and  excessive  pride,  and  intemperance  ; 
and  on  the  other,  lit  up  by  the  approving  smiles  of  God  himself,  you 
will  see  liberality,  charity  of  all  kinds,  a  proper  self  esteem,  and  all  the 
graces  of  that  temperance  which  adds  beauty  to  the  mind,  and  strength 
and  activity  to  the  body.  You  will  behold  more  than  this.  From  the 
summit  to  the  pedestal  of  the  Universe,  teeming  with  souls  tabernacling 
in  flesh,  with  still  higher  intelligences,  and  sparkling  with  stars  and 
suns,  you  will  behold  the  unerring  sins  of  an  active,  progressive  exis- 
tence. Amid  some  of  these  intelligences,  and  over  the  surface  of  these 
lofty  and  burning  worlds,  the  genius  of  evil,  ever  the  precurser  of  dis- 
order, hath  never  gone  ;  and  yet  they  may  hold  their  high  estates  by 
the  same  tenure  our  great  forefather  once  held  ours.  Action — -pro- 
gression are  the  words  ;  ever  onward  in  the  one  path  that  goes  up  to 
light  and  glory,  or  ever  downward  in  the  one  broad  road  (unless  some 
happy  angel  should  check  you)  that  leads  to  darkness  and  dishonor. 

Your  action  and  progress  in  after  life,  I  am  happy  to  believe,  gentle- 
men, will  be  worthy  of  your  preceptors,  worthy  of  this  renowned  and 
excellent  University,  and  a  source  of  honor  to  yourselves  and  to  the 
age  you  live  in  and  contribute  somewhat  to  elevate  and  serve.  The 
heart  of  Thcmistocles  glowed  so  with  emulation  and  a  love  of  glory, 
that  the  trophies  of  Miltiadcs  would  -not  suffer  him  to  sleep ;  are  any 
of  you  less  gifted  with  opportunities  than  was  the  Grecian  hero  1  And 
are  there  no  trophies  around  and  about  you  ?  Have  action  and  pro- 
gress done  nothing,  that  you  may  resign  yourselves  to  inglorious  ea*>e, 
and  dream  that  reputation  and  fortune  will  seek  you  and  crown  you 


17. 

with  their  choicest  gifts  ?    Your  ancestor?,  «ho.^?«^.g«-<iferalioTi,  the 
age  itself,  full  of  all  that  is  wondcj  -  It,  and  exciting,  and. 

a  glorious  future,  all  call  you  to*  fies,  fields,  if  .tor  country  is  not  to 
be  liberated,  its  freedom  is  to  be- elevated  and  & . j^-ved  ;  if  your  liter- 
ature is  not  to  be  formed  (though  I  think  it  isYyfis  at  least  to  be  fos- 
tered, and  cherished,  and  upheld ;  if  our  natpnal  manners  are  not  to  be 
created,  they  require  at  leoji^jto  be  chastened  and  refined ;  and  if  our 
public  morals  have  heretofore  been  eqml  to  those  of  the  first  European 
nations,  they,  also,  demand  a  betterT>  purir  and  a  more  healthful  tone. 
On  all  sides,  you  have  incitements  to  \effoj-t  and  exertion.  Will  you 
neglect  them  or  will  you  give  them  err<s#ragemer.t?  Will  you,  for 
the  unsubstantial  enjoyments  of  an  hour  ;  for  the  pleasures  of  the  bowl 
or  the  excitements  of  the  gaming  table,  or  for  any  mere  animal  indul- 
gence, waste  the  precious  jewels  which  have  here  been  polished  and 
confided  to  your  keeping?  If  you  do,  the  agony  of  misapplied  talents 
and  of  misspent  hours  will  sooner  or  later  overtake  you,  and  )'ou  will 
fall  into  old  age  or  sudden  death  amid  the  neglect  and  pity  of  the  more 
fortunate  and  prudent.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  should  exert 
and  task  all  your  faculties — should  continue  and  improve  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  in  the  means  of  knowledge  you  have  here  acquired — should 
submit  yourselves  to  the  maxims  of  prudence,  and  discretion,  and  a 
virtuous  ambition — should  discard  whatever  is  little  or  unworthy,  and 
cleave  only  to  what  is  grand,  and  noble  and  enduring,  your  names 
will  be  blessed  and  honored  by  your  contemporaries,  and  written  in 
death   where  all  men  may  go  and  read  them. 

Above  all,  gentlemen,  let  me,  unworthy  as  I  am  to  do  it,  commend 
to  you  all  the  precepts  of  our  Holy  Religion.  Let  no  false  pride,  no 
miserable  calculations  of  worldly  prudence,  no  sneers  oi  the  profligate, 
no  taunts  of  the  foolish  and  ungodly,  keep  you  from  an  open  acknowl- 
edgement, whensoever  it  may  be  or  wheresoever  it  may  be,  of  the 
saving  and  elevating  tendency  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Redeemer.  I  will 
not  tell  you  that  Newton,  and  Locke,  and  Washington  were  Christians 
— for  their  souls  were  not  taller  or  greater  in  God's  eye  than  the  souls 
of  others — I  will  not  tell  you  of  them,  but  to  show  you  at  a  glance  how 
they  saw  and  felt  all  things  to  be  more  beautiful  and  less  sinful  when 
looked  upon  by  the  smiling  countenance  of  Heaven.  The  Bible  is 
your  orf-at  chart  for  the  ocean  of  Existence,     It  is  a  star  over  which  no 


18. 

dnrkness  eve*-  cjfi^-—^  light  that  shines  on,  though  storms  and  deso- 
lation oversweep  al  things  else-^a  spark  struck  from  the  Divine 
Throne  to  <nve  damdid  glory  to  the  world.  Keep  it. ever  before  you. 
When  you  wander*  will- point  you  to  the  right  path  ;  when  you  be- 
come wounded  and  w<?ury,  you  may  feel  the  healinu#>oWer  of  its  wings  ; 
when  you  doubt  and  hesitate,  it  will  give  yoffcertainty  and  decision. 
Strike  it  from  existence,  am1  the  earth  its*4f  would  almost  totter  with 
its  load  of  crime  and  agony  Take  from  us  all  it  has  clone — all  it  has 
originated,  sustained,  or  <:ompl;ted — take  from  us  its  hallowed  and 
humanizing  tone;  its  power  to  bring  good  out  of  evil;  to  make  men 
better  and  holier,  and  to  resr^JJin  bad  passions,  and  desires,  and  propen- 
sities, and  you  convert  the  moral  and  indeed  physical  world  into  abodes 
of  licentiousness,  and  anarchy  and  carnage.  Guard  well,  then,  I  con- 
jure you,  this  sacred  treasure.  Guard  it  in  your  hearts.  There, 
at  least,  it  will  be  safe.  But  defend  it  also,  from  the  assaults  of 
men.  God,  it  is  true,  needs  no  defence,  but  he  works  by  instruments ; 
and  good  must  war  against  evil.  And  trust  not,  I  tell  you,  trust  not 
that  man  who  scoffs  at  the  Bible,  or  openly  and  repeatedly  disregards 
its  fundamental  truths.     Trust  him  not,  though  he  swear  by  it ! 

Thus  armed  and  fortified,  gentlemen,  by  the  instruments  of  learning 
and  the  truths  of  God,  you  may  go  forth  from  this  place  with  brilliant 
prospects  of  success.  May  no  fond  hope  be  disappointed!  May  no 
heart  among  you  be  less  happy  years  hence  than  it  is  on  this  occasion  ! 
may  the  sweet  and  bright  place?  of  the  world  be  yours  to  tread  on; 
may  y«ir  friends  find  your  success  equal  to  all  they  hoped,  or  desired, 
or  expected  ;  may  you  confer  additional  honor  upon  this  University  ; 
and  in  the  hour  of  danger  be  as  a  munition  of  rocks  to  your  country ! 
Then,  indeed,  may  it  be  said  of  you 

"  Nor  life,  nor  death,  they  deemed  the  happier  state, 
3Sm  life  thai'*  glorious,  and  death  that's  great."' 


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